Ice Cream

In general, I don't eat a lot of ice cream. Don't get me wrong, it is delicious, but most of the time it's too rich and heavy for me. There are, of course, exceptions to that rule. Case and point: tonight!

As I already mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, it has been unseasonably hot here in East Tennessee lately. Our normal highs are in the mid-to-upper-80s for this time of year; I would kill for those kinds of temperatures right now! (Well, not necessarily kill, but you know what I mean.) Our highs have been in the mid-to-upper-90s over the past two weeks or so, and several days have had their temperature records broken. Those kinds of temperatures make it much more appealing to me to eat ice cream!

I have worked in a grocery store for 8 years, and I can speak with authority that ice cream is a major seller, no matter what season it is. There is always a brand of ice cream on sale during any given week, and people will stock up when it is! There are also several ice cream businesses that make great money, mostly in the summer. Some of those are Dairy Queen, Marble Slab, Brusters, Cold Stone Creamery, etc. (Which is your favorite?) But for me, I like to keep it simple.

Lately a lot of brands in the grocery store have rolled out single-use or single-serve containers. They package all your favorite flavors in single serving cups and sell them separately. In our house, it works out great, since none of us likes the same flavor all the time. For example, my dad likes plain chocolate, my mom's favorite is Turtle Tracks, and my brother and I like cookie dough and peanut butter cup (or Moose Tracks) flavors. This way, we can each get a flavor we like without having to buy three or four quarts of ice cream. Each one costs about a dollar, which would be equivalent to buying a quart of ice cream and splitting it between the four of us. My mom likes that it portions it out for you, so that you don't over-eat. That may be true, since I've never eaten more than one at a time, but the convenience of it is even better.

Tonight, I enjoyed peanut butter cup ice cream, and it was delicious. I try not to make a habit of it, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying it every once in a while. And if the weather is going to stay in the 90s for yet another week, I'll need some more ice cream. Bring it on!